Trump Junior in nine-hour Senate interview

Donald Trump Jr has finished a nine-hour interview with the Senate intelligence committee, concluding his third interview on Capitol Hill as part of probes into Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

The closed-door meeting between the president's eldest son and Senate staff came a week after he spoke to lawmakers on the House intelligence committee. The Senate Judiciary Committee interviewed him in September.

All three panels are investigating the meddling and whether President Donald Trump's campaign was involved. Investigators have been looking into a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer that Trump Jr and other campaign officials attended.

The top Democrat on the Senate intelligence panel, Virginia Senator Mark Warner, has said he wants Trump Jr to return for a public hearing.

House Republicans are ratcheting up criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling, questioning whether there was bias on his team of lawyers but stopping short of calling for his firing or resignation.

The criticism directed toward Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein at a House Judiciary hearing comes after the release of anti-Donald Trump text messages exchanged between two FBI officials at one point assigned to the Russia probe.